Quips: human evolution, free speech and the Messiah

The mother, Jaleesa Martin of Newport, Tenn., is appealing the decision handed down by Child Support Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew, who renamed the 7-month-old child “Martin DeShawn McCullough,” after the parents came to her in a dispute over the child’s last name, according to the Tennesseean. The new name includes both parent’s last names but leaves out Messiah, “which is a title and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person and that one person is Jesus Christ,” Ballew said.

“It could put him at odds with a lot of people and at this point he has had no choice in what his name is,” Judge Ballew said, according to WBIR in Newport.

This reminded me a bit of this:

But seriously, it is dumbfounding that superstition has such a strong hold in our country.

A Montreal man has been ordered to pay $8,000 to a panhandler after an email he wrote complaining about her presence outside a liquor store was deemed discriminatory by the province’s human rights commission.

The incident dates back to 2010 and started at an SAQ liquor store in Montreal’s Ahuntsic neighbourhood.

The woman involved is in her 60s and suffers from a degenerative bone disease, which prevents her from working. She receives social assistance, but makes ends meet by panhandling outside of the liquor store for a few hours on Friday and Saturday evenings.

According to evidence presented to Quebec’s human rights commission, the woman said she was always polite and never bothered anyone. She took adaptive transport to the Henri-Bourassa Boulevard store and made between $15 and $30 a day.
But one customer found her presence a nuisance and complained to the store manager in an email.

In that letter, the customer described the woman as overweight and a “drunk” with “no apparent IQ.”

Note: the e-mail wasn’t even written to the panhandler…

Human evolution

What value is monogamy to humans and higher apes? Believe it or not, it may have helped us get…smarter? Note: brains are expensive, in terms of evolutionary currency and offspring who have fathers who are with the family tend to be better fed.

Evolution Remember the moth story; the idea is that when an area became more polluted by soot, moths that blended in were eaten at a lower rate and produced offspring that had a better chance of surviving.

To keep track of my training. I train for ultramarathons (I usually walk these) and sometimes do running races, bicycle rides and open water swims for variety. My best ultra accomplishment was walking 101 miles in 24 hours in 2004. These days, I walk a marathon every once in a while (5:30 to 7 hours) There was a time when I could run a sub 40 minute 10K (did that once), but that was another lifetime ago; these a days 2427-28 25 minutes for a 5K would be more like it. I also have an off and on interest in yoga and in weight training. My lifetime PB in the bench is 310; currently I do sets of 4 with 175.

From time to time, I post what I am thinking about mathematically

I often post links to science articles, especially articles about cosmology and evolution.

I am very sympathetic to the “new atheist” movement, though some might consider me to be an agnostic. I reject any notion of a deity that interferes with physical events, but remain agnostic to the idea that there might be something “grand and wonderful” (Dawkins’ phrase) outside of our current spacetime continuum.

I am a liberal Democrat who thinks that the current social atmosphere is tilted way too far toward the interests of big business, and I reject the idea that a “free market” cures all ills, though pure socialism doesn’t work either. I am also a believer in the freedom of speech, including speech that I might not like. Also, I’ve been involved (to a moderate degree) with political campaigns, ranging from City Council races up to Presidential races.

Since being targeted by neo-nazis, I’ve started to identify with the anti-racist and the anti-fa movements.

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My Liberal Identity:

Ollie is a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.

Barbara's Liberal Identity:

Barbara is a Peace Patroller, also known as an anti-war liberal or neo-hippie. She believes in putting an end to American imperial conquest, stopping wars that have already been lost, and supporting our troops by bringing them home.

Created by OnePlusYouBlog Roll Notes
As of March 20, 2010, I went through my longer blogroll and deleted links that no longer work. Be advised that some blogs have not been updated and others have been moved, but you can get to the new address via the old one.
I've read and visited all of these sites at one time or another. However, I've decided to post a separate list of those blogs which I read regularly (some daily, others periodically).
My list of my regular reads
Humor